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AT&T National interview: Roberto Castro

THE MODERATOR: Roberto Castro, thanks for joining us here. After that stress free finish there, find yourself tied with three other players for the lead.

If you could maybe make some opening comments about your finish, two birdies and a great par on 18.
ROBERTO CASTRO: Thanks. Last seven holes, I told my caddie to get back into what we're working on and just try to string some good shots together.

Parred the tough 14, 15, and then a couple birdies. And then 18, little mud on the ball, a little hook lie. Hit a pretty good one, I thought, and it just came out left. Saving a bogey would have been huge. Making a par is just bonus.

Q. You're five shots behind after like two holes, and then that was just to Jordan. And it's probably even worse to Romero. Now you're tied for the lead. Can you explain that, sir?

ROBERTO CASTRO: I think over four days here, every player is going to hit kind of a rough patch. I don't see it being easy out here.

Jordan started the day tied for the lead and birdied the first two, hits a gimme on 2. I just played enough golf to know he's not going to go around 6 or 7 under and run away from everyone else. I knew that everyone was going to have a tough stretch.

So mine just came early today, and I just tried to survive it.

Q. You had a problem in the trap out there on 3?

ROBERTO CASTRO: That wasn't a good one. I've never seen a ball that far into the sand, to be honest with you. Thankfully, the spotters were right there. There was a mark. I probably would have found it. But it was that was something.

Q. Have you seen it yet?

ROBERTO CASTRO: No. I had to dig an inch of sand off the top of the ball. So it was three inches below the top of the sand.

Q. Just because exactly where it landed, do you think, or is the sand that soft?

ROBERTO CASTRO: No, the bunkers are great out here. I think it was just a part where the sand was soft and deep, and I flew it right into the top of the lip right there. Just bad luck.

Q. How much consideration did you have to just swing it from the hills?

ROBERTO CASTRO: I thought about swinging because I thought, worst case, I just chunk it at my feet. If I take it unplayable, I'm pitching out anyway. I'm thinking swing. If I get lucky, it gets out. If I don't, then it comes then I thought, this thing is so far down there, that I could hit it further into the ground. I could have it roll into my footprint. Nothing good was going to happen, I think, if I swung at it.

And I thought, if I dropped, pitched out, I could make bogey or double, which is not the end of the world. I didn't need to sit there and make 8 or something.

Q. On 18, the club to the fairway was what, and what did you see on the chip?

ROBERTO CASTRO: I had I was trying to hit it 210 down the hill, hit 5 iron. Then on the chip, I thought I could just tumble it over the top of the ridge there.

I told myself, playing last year and this year, it's not that fast going over that ridge. When you see guys putting and I've been on the front of that green. You don't have to die it on the top of the ridge. You kind of just have to get it going over the top of the ridge.

So I told myself to hit, be aggressive, and get it back in there, and it came out perfect. After I made it, Romero told me that last year to that pin, he hooked it in the lake, dropped, and chipped it in. So I guess it's doable.

Q. If you're not there if you're not playing with Andres today, is he and Stephen Cox still out there on 16 discussing this thing? You saved the day there, huh?

ROBERTO CASTRO: Yeah, I was my marginal Spanish was very useful there on 16.

Q. You said every day you've been in here trying to tell myself to be aggressive. How have you done with that over 54 holes now?

ROBERTO CASTRO: Sticking with it. I think I said yesterday and I hit a shot on 7 where I kind of felt like I was backing off a little bit. So kept at it. Tried to keep at it today. Felt like I did a good job.
That was when I told myself after the three, being 3 over, don't get away from what you've done the last three days.

Q. I was just going to say, was that hard? When you're coming off that not easy bunker shot on 2 either and then the bad break on 3. On 4, if you don't hit the hole with that putt, you're probably significantly behind. You seemed rattled at that point maybe.

ROBERTO CASTRO: Yeah, a little bit. I hit a good tee shot on 4, hit a good second shot. Hit that putt pretty hard. What was key was the second putt on 4, little 3 footer down the hill that looked weird. And then the next hole, I made about a 6 footer across the hill for par.

So both of those were big. Those were big. Those are the ones I'll think about kind of where I kept things going.

It was fortunate to hit the hole there on 4, but those two two putts were key.

Q. Have you played with Jordan before?

ROBERTO CASTRO: No.

Q. Impressions in general.

ROBERTO CASTRO: He's 19.

Q. Right.

ROBERTO CASTRO: He's a tremendous player. Yeah, you can see why he's done what he's done. He's got good game. He's got a good attitude. He'll be sitting in this chair for a lot of years to come, I would think.

Q. How high is your confidence after such a finish the last three holes?

ROBERTO CASTRO: Really, the last seven, I felt like I hit it better, I can carry that into tomorrow. I've been working on the same thing all week. Hit a bad wedge on 11. That reminded me very clearly of what I was working on, and let's just try to work on that. Try to carry some of those things from the last seven holes.

Q. Did you find yourself feeding off of Romero at all? Like momentum wise.

ROBERTO CASTRO: No. We had opposite momentum. When I was 3 over, he was 3 or 4 under. We definitely did not feed off each other.

Our group I struggled the first six holes. Jordan struggled the next six holes. And then Romero kind of struggled maybe the three or four holes after that. So our group at any given point, somebody was kind of trying to keep the wheels on.

Q. I know this is Saturday, but did you ever I want to say this the right way. Did you ever was there ever a point where you felt like you were back in it, or did you just never think you were out of it?

ROBERTO CASTRO: I didn't think I was out of it. Like I said, the golf course is just hard it's going to be hard to I started the day in the lead. So 3 over, I was still I knew I was still right in the mix.
I just didn't think I thought everybody was going to hit a tough stretch. So I did not I did not think I was out of it.

Q. Did you get any sense maybe I wasn't paying attention. But watching Jordan go through his little kind of bad patch around the turn, and he's still right there too. It's just his body language for a little while looked like he was a lot farther back than he really was. I don't know if you paid attention to that or not.

ROBERTO CASTRO: I didn't notice.

Q. What are your impressions of 11?

ROBERTO CASTRO: 11 is a good hole. It's very penal, but the fairway's wide. It's a wide fairway with not much good. If you don't hit the fairway, you're not good. But the fairway itself is wide.
It's a good length. Get a good tee shot, get a long iron in there, it's a good hole.

Q. Did you go in the hazard off the tee?

ROBERTO CASTRO: I was, but I played it out of there. I was a couple inches in the hazard.

Q. How do you feel about tomorrow after not just for you, but Bill Haas made nine birdies and shot 68 today. He was all over the place. He made his double, you made your double, and you guys are all tied. Wild day.

ROBERTO CASTRO: Wild day, exactly. Play a tidy round tomorrow, that will do a lot. Making nine birdies or playing a tidy round will do a lot for you, one or the other.

It's scorable. The greens are still soft. If you drive it in the fairway and you're hitting it well, you can hit it close and make birdies. So it's doable.